


Oaks and Pines

by ArcadianFae (FourSwordHeir)



Category: Gravity Falls, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Amnesia, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Human Bill Cipher, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Weirdmageddon, Redemption, mystery trio and team trollhunters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29474151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FourSwordHeir/pseuds/ArcadianFae
Summary: One year after the events of Never-Mind-All-That, the Pines family (plus their newest addition) move from Piedmont to a sleepy little town in California.Two years later, a shortcut to school turns into a close friend finding a strange amulet that speaks his name. Maybe Arcadia Oaks isn't as peaceful as it seems...
Relationships: Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez, the others are all friendships
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	Oaks and Pines

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever crossover! I hope you like it!
> 
> ~~~ is for timeskips  
> /~/ is for POV shifts

"-iedmont, California! Piedmont, California next stop!"

"OMG! We're almost home! Guys, wake up!"

Dipper Pines blearily opened his eyes. His twin sister Mabel was wide awake and bouncing in her seat.

"Hnngeh?" The teen on his other side blinked groggily, his amber-gold eyes cloudy from sleep. His dirty blond locks fell into his face, and a few strands trailed from his mouth. In short, he looked absolutely ridiculous.

Dipper snorted. "Enjoy your... _beauty sleep_?" 

The other boy grumbled. "Still tired."

Mabel stuck her tongue out at him. "Bill, you could sleep for a century and a half and still be tired."

The ex-demon pouted like the overgrown child he was. "Just because you're right doesn't mean I have to like it."

The twins shared a laugh at their younger-brother-to-be's expense. Hopefully their parents hadn't changed their minds about adopting the twins' once-enemy –- not that they knew anything about Bill's prior life. Their parents were still in the dark about Gravity Falls' weirdness, _especially_ Never-Mind-All-That. Bill had been sworn to secrecy too, after recovering what few memories he had.

Bill actually hadn't turned out to be such a bad kid, once he wasn't a power-crazed demon. The Axolotl wiping his memories certainly didn't hurt. Sure, he had a penchant for mild chaos, and he wasn't allowed caffeine after the Mabel Juice Incident, but all-in-all, he was a pretty decent guy. 

"I can't wait to see Mom and Dad again! I love Gravity Falls, but I missed Mom and Dad," Mabel admitted.

"And Waddles?" Dipper smirked knowingly.

"And Waddles." The pig hadn't been allowed on the bus to Gravity Falls, to Mabel's dismay, so he had stayed in Piedmont.

"Should we tell them anything?" Bill asked, concerned. 

Dipper frowned. "Like 'hey Mom and Dad! Remember that kid you agreed to adopt? Well, he was actually evil for a bit! How was your summer?'" He shook his head. "Yeah, that's gonna go over well."

"What? No! I meant like how I have amnesia! So they won't freak out if I stare off into space for a few minutes if I get a memory back!" Bill amended. "Maybe we could phrase it like I had a bad past, so sometimes I get memories back that put me in a funk for a day or so."

The twins pondered Bill's idea. "That makes sense." Mabel nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe we should tell them half-truths." Dipper added.

Bill nodded. "Okay, so we could tell them that I lost my parents in a fire when I was really young, I barely remember them, I ended up in a bad neighborhood, and I was taken in by a gang." He ticked the vague truths off on his fingers. "A year ago, the gang that had raised me tried to take over Gravity Falls, and they almost succeeded. The townsfolk stood up against them, beat them, and drove them out. I wound up in Gravity Falls about three months ago, no memories, and you guys took me in, despite my old affiliations with the gang that had tried to take over the town. I managed to recover a few of my memories, but I'm still missing a lot of my past."

"That's... exactly what happened, just without the weirdness." Dipper admitted. "And we can tell them that the town didn't want to scare away visitors, because tourism is their only big source of income, so the mayor enacted the 'Never Mind All That' Act to keep it quiet."

Mabel grinned. "And Bill is excited for a fresh start with a new family!"

Bill smiled. "That one's a full truth."

"Aww, you sap."

Bill's comeback was interrupted by the bus driver. "Piedmont, California! Last stop, Piedmont, California! Everyone off!" By 'everyone', the driver meant the Pines trio. Everyone else had gotten off at the last stop.

"We're here!" Mabel practically _flew_ out of her seat. 

Dipper chuckled at his sister's antics, before noticing Bill's anxious expression. "Dude, don't worry. They're gonna love you."

"But what if–"

Dipper held up one hand, in the universal sign for 'stop'. "Bill, listen to me. I thought that Mom and Dad were going to argue when we brought home a _pig_. Within three days, it was like we had had Waddles for years." He smiled warmly. "You're protective like Stan, full of kindness and energy like Mabel, and you're forgiving and curious like me. You're gonna fit right in."

"What about Ford?" Bill pointed out.

Dipper scoffed. " _Un_ like Ford, you're willing to ask for help sometimes." He grinned at Bill's laughter.

"HURRY UP SLOWPOKES! MOM AND DAD WANNA MEET BILL!"

"AH!" Dipper tripped over his backpack and landed awkwardly in the bus's aisle. "I'm down! Dipper down!"

The demon-turned-teenager chortled at the disaster that was Dipper Pines. "That's what you get for being so gangly."

"Shut up and help me up."

~~~

Bill stood off to the side awkwardly as the Mystery Twins rushed their parents with hugs and excited greetings. What was he supposed to _say_? 'Hi, I'm the kid that your children told you about, please adopt me'? He gathered as much of his courage as he could, and walked over.

"Um, h-hi, I'm Bill, nice to meet you." He internally cringed at his awkwardness. 

_Ah, fear of rejection, I was wondering where you went._

Mr Pines stood straight up. "So you're the boy the twins were talking about."

Bill stood as straight as he could. "Ye-yes, sir. I don't mean to be a bothe-"

He froze as he was swept into the dadliest hug in existence. "None of that 'sir' nonsense. You can call me 'dad'." 

Mrs Pines, who had been watching the interaction, joined the embrace. "And you can call me 'mom'. Welcome to the family, kiddo." Bill finally unfroze, returning the hug. He clung to the twins' parents -- _his_ parents -- like a lifeline.

Mabel's cheer of "GROUP HUG!" was Bill's only warning before the twins added to the Pines Family Hug Pile. Bill would probably deny it later, but Dipper was certain he heard a whispered 'thank you'.

~~~

Bill swore as Link took another direct hit from Ghirahim. "I have fought this boss. SIX. TIMES."

It was a week after the trio's return to Piedmont, and Bill had settled into the family in record time.

Dipper snorted at his brother's fury at the video game. "I dunno man, maybe motion control isn't for you. Six times to beat the first dungeon? Just go back to Twilight Princess." He added a few more details to his sketch of the demon lord that was currently whooping his brother's behind.

"Never! Death before dishonor!"

_Game Over._

"There's the death, I'll take the dishonor." Bill grumpily swapped out the game's disc.

"Kids! We have big news!"

Dipper glanced up from his spot on the couch next to Bill. "What kind of big news?"

Mabel looked up from her knitting, eyes flashing with excitement. "Are Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford coming for a visit?"

Their mom shook her head. "Not this time sweetie."

Bill frowned, brow furrowed in concentration. "You...got a promotion?" He guessed.

Their dad grinned. "Almost guessed it!"

Dipper gnawed on his pen for a few seconds. "You got a great job offer?"

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!"

"Your dad got an _amazing_ job offer in a little town called Arcadia Oaks," their mom elaborated. "We're moving!"

"We were looking at some of the houses around Arcadia, and we found a keeper," their dad grinned enthusiastically. "It has a pool, a massive backyard that backs up to some woodland, and -- drumroll please."

Bill and Mabel immediately started a drumroll, Dipper joining in after Mabel elbowed him in the ribs.

"It has _five_ bedrooms! You can each have your own room!"

The trio gasped excitedly and began babbling animatedly about what they were going to do with their own rooms.

"-and a huge bookshelf on one wall, and a conspiracy corkboard on another-"

"-going to knit myself _so many throw pillows_ -"

"-paint glow-in-the-dark constellations on the ceiling, and a telescope right by the window-"

"-we could have hidden doors between our rooms-"

"-I can finally put my art supplies somewhere-"

"-I wonder if Arcadia gets good meteor showers-"

Finally, the three turned to their parents, who had been watching bemusedly the entire time. "You kiddos good? The sooner we pack, the sooner you can get your own rooms."

The trio bolted upstairs so fast, it's a wonder they didn't break the sound barrier.

~~~

"I wonder what Arcadia is like!" Mabel pressed her face up against the window.

Dipper sighed. "Honestly, I looked it up, and it seems kinda boring. Pretty much 'Anywhere, USA'. Just another sleepy little town." 

Bill, fast asleep with his head resting against the other window, chose this moment to let out an incredibly loud snore. Dipper elbowed him, making him grumble but, thankfully, stop snoring.

Mabel turned to her twin. "Yeah, but is it _Piedmont_ sleepy or _Gravity Falls_ sleepy?"

Dipper opened his mouth, lost his train of thought, and closed it. "You know, that's an excellent point." He chuckled quietly. "Well, at least now I know what's gonna be on my corkboard."

"Wait, so you just wanted a conspiracy corkboard, you didn't actually have a conspiracy?"

"Shut up."

~~~

_Ding-dong~_

"I'll get it!" Mabel dropped the box of plushies she was carrying and raced downstairs. She opened the door to see two boys, about her's and Dipper's age.

The shorter boy, who had brown hair, green eyes, and sported an orange polo shirt, grinned. "Hi! We saw your moving truck and wanted to welcome you to the awesomest neighborhood in Arcadia! I'm Toby, I live over there--" Toby pointed over his shoulder at the house across the street "--and this is my best friend, Jimbo!"

The taller boy with messy black hair, blue eyes, and a green flannel jacket with red sleeves, held out a plate covered with plastic wrap. "Hi! I'm Jim, I live right next door, and I baked some cookies to say welcome."

Mabel squealed with excitement. Not only did they have nice neighbors, but they were her age! ~~And they were kinda cute, too.~~

"My name's Mabel, I just turned fourteen, and I have two brothers and a pig!" She half-turned to call upstairs, "DIPPER! BILL! COME MEET OUR NEW NEIGHBORS!"

"Did she just say a _pig_ \--"

Toby's bafflement was cut off by a loud thump-thUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-CRASH.

/~/

"Bill! For crap's sake man, you're going to break more bones than you have!"

"Ow... You shouldn't have put your books there... I almost died..."

"It wasn't me! You tripped over Waddles!"

Jim and Toby stared in worry, shock, and confusion at the two boys who had come down --or in the yellow-flanneled one's case, tumbled down-- the stairs. 

"Um..." Jim wasn't sure how to respond. "Are you okay? Anything broken or sprained?"

Toby elbowed his friend. "Good thing your mom's a doctor, Jimbo."

The kid who had just displayed a flawless imitation of a human slinky gave a weak thumbs up. "I'm fine, just frickin dizzy."

"Language. Anyways, these are my brothers." Mabel gestured to the two boys. "Guys, these are our new neighbors!"

The boy in red flannel waved. "Hi, my name's Dipper Pines. That's Bill."

Bill, who was still out of it and sprawled across the floor, waved.

Mabel grinned. "Dipper and I are twins, and Bill's our little brother!"

"Only by a few months!" the youngest protested.

"And no, Mabel and I can't read each other's minds," Dipper explained.

"Though it seems like it sometimes," Mabel added.

"That always seems to be the first thing people ask us."

"Right before they ask if we're identical."

Jim snorted. "Identical twins are made from the same zygote, they can't be different genders unless one is trans." The Pines siblings stared at Jim. "I picked up a few things from my mom's med school textbooks."

Bill sat straight up and grinned. "Cool!" A wave of dizziness hit him, and he went down like a sack of bricks.

Mabel brushed it off with a wave of her hand. "He'll be fine, this happens all the time."

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically the prologue, which is a year after Gravity Falls ended. The rest of the events following Trollhunters happens three years after Gravity Falls ended, so the Pines have lived in Arcadia Oaks for two years.
> 
> I'm open to title suggestions, this is a work in progress.


End file.
